3dent

Which means no one was exactly gimped. You've completed the TF, you've got your rewards, everything's perfecty-perrfect. You want a REAL horror story? Here it is: There's a certain friend of mine who has VERY specific idea of how every TF in the game should be played. Mind you, their ideas are good, their builds are top-notch, in fact as long as you agree with them, they're a perfect player to team with and I mean it.

Until they're on team with someone who has no less specific but contrary idea. It always ends up with someone being kicked (or quitting), EVEN IF THEY WERE THE ONLY MELEE TOON ON THE LGTF, just before Hami mish. Then the quitter had sent us all tells of how leader was stupid b/c they wanted to fight Dra'Gon, why only stupid RPers do that, and how we should all quit and restart the TF under their brilliant leadership.

Both our TF and their recruiting failed. No one got ANYTHING for their efforts. Despite all the perfect builds (And yes, I've checked. Everyone was softcapped, had silly global +rech, and so on. First few missions of the TF were pure steamrolling too.) Two hideless stalkers played by AE babies would have been more useful than 10-billions builds by excellent players, just because both parties had WAY TOO SPECIFIC expectations about how everyone else "had to" play. Seriously, if either of them was just a tiny bit more tactful it would have been the best LGTF ever... Now it's a contender for the most awful TF I ever personally participated in, right there with a 15-hours Citadel and other horrors.



P.S. If you read this, and remember that LGTF... Yes, it rubbed me VERY wrong way, but aside from that you still are great.

Depends on the AT and the armor As someone already have said it makes sense with, say, Regen, or maybe as a way to mitigate godmode crash, but with sets that have good auras and no-crash T9s, you're better off being pounded on anyway, even on a non-Brute...

Well, as others have said the limit is 10 bars. If you don't have any Patrol XP, you get to the limit in 10 days (or 8 1/3 days with the Patroller badge).

Patrol XP also works as "un-debt", and there are some other not-so-obvious rules, like what it does in the AE or during Double XP events. You can read it all here: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Patrol_XP

By the way, the rules on sidekicking/exemplaring and mission difficulty have changed extensively during the last year. basically, everything you knew about them, and most of the things written prior to summer 2009 are wrong now. Simplified version of the changes:
1) You're automatically SKed/Exemped to the level of the current mission owner (NOT the team leader, as many seem to think. Unless there's no mission selected.) the only way to opt out is to quit the team.

2)SK ed players are still on the leash for XP calculations, but their combat level does not drop outside the leash. (so, no faceplants because your mentor decided to "scout ahead")

3) Exemped players can EARN XP, but there's an option to opt out of this as well as to stop earning XP altogether (you will get inf and debt payment intead, like 50s do).

4) While exemped you get values (HP, damage, enhancement scaling etc.) of a level you are exemped to, but powers availability is calculated as if you were 5 levels higher. (So, if you're level 50 and are on a Positron TF, you would deal damage as if you were level 15, but you would have powers you had picked up at 16,18, and 20 available. (Stamina!!!))

5) Difficulty change is now free, and allows you to set relative level (from -1 to +4) spawn size (standard to +8) whether or not you want bosses and whether or not you want AVs independent of each other.



The net effect is that it's easier than ever to get insane (by past standards) amounts of XP for most playstyles/builds, even without outright power leveling. (although Pling itself was obviously slowed down somewhat. No way to "fight" +9s and still get XP, )

Actually I've been using a slightly different bind for ages now (I didn't invent it, I've read it in a guide to Khelds somewhere...):
/bind BUTTON4 "follow$$camreset$$camdist 20"
/bind BUTTON5 "target_enemy_next$$target_custom_next enemy alive quantum$$target_custom_next enemy alive void$$target_custom_next enemy alive cyst$$target_custom_next enemy alive sapper"

It uses mouse buttons instead of TAB and F (naturally, would only work with a mouse that has 4th and 5th buttons, like this one I use or a cheaper analogue. Absolutely brilliant thing these two buttons, worth every penny, not just in games. ) and it targets sappers as well as cysts.

As for the original topic... Well, I've seen just one wipe like that and that was when cyst spawned right next to an AV (Captain Castillo, with smoke grenades and FF drone. Too bad they didn't change Confuse rules for buffers back then or it would be easy too, just confuse the drones, and you don't even need insps )

There are also Longbow Wardens (nearly irrelevant heroside), Malaise, Savage Siren (Safeguard AV), and a few redside-only AVs. Your point still stands, of course, but just for completeness sake...

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...5&postcount=77
It was Castle. He called the situation with PvP IOs "rampant inflation", "obvious problem" and "horribly broken".

So I guess, changes of some sort are on their way.

You don't have to click anything except the mission door. Arachnos tunnels are part of the zone map, and inside them there are three mission doors to the ruins you have to clear and IIRC two Arachnos-style hatches near tunnel enterances, you don't neeed these.

(There are also similar tunnels in Bricks, thankfully, they are much less used.)

They're certainly bad press and source of FUD, if nothing else. You don't want this just before the release of your shiny new expansion (and with the competition ready to exploit said FUD), if you can help it. Especially in the summer, when standards of "major news" are usually lowered at gaming mags and sites.

It would be as confusing as incorrect conversions. People DO forget that not all of the world is in their own timezone, and they tend to assume any time they see is their local time, not, say, GMT or Pacific. Not to mention daylight saving... /*generic anti-DST rant.*/


P.S. As for whether or not all this means upcoming server mergers, and whether or not server mergers mean DOOOOOOOOM!™... Well, why do something like that just before the release of a major expansion? And if GR succeeds financially, why do it after? On the other hand, if it tanks... Then we'd be very lucky if all that happens would be server mergers.

Well, if you're not picky about your origin you can do this:
Talisman of the Sleeping Lion Available to lvl 10 (although actually unlocking that shop in Fault isn't possible solo until lvl 15.) and acts as SO for all intents and purposes, except it doesn't combine with the real things, only with itself. My own rad/rad was Mutation, so I got uber-damage instead.

0.94 end drain with all the toggles exceept Sprint and SS, - a bit high, but manageable.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1,601
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 21 Technology Defender
Primary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Blast
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Radiant Aura

• (A) Healing
• (19) Healing

Level 1: Neutrino Bolt

• (A) Damage Increase
• (5) Damage Increase
• (9) Damage Increase
• (17) Defense Debuff

Level 2: Accelerate Metabolism

• (A) Recharge Reduction
• (3) Recharge Reduction
• (3) Recharge Reduction

Level 4: Radiation Infection

• (A) Endurance Reduction
• (5) Endurance Reduction
• (13) To Hit Debuff
• (13) To Hit Debuff

Level 6: Hasten

• (A) Recharge Reduction
• (7) Recharge Reduction
• (7) Recharge Reduction

Level 8: Enervating Field

• (A) Endurance Reduction
• (9) Endurance Reduction

Level 10: Irradiate

• (A) Endurance Reduction
• (11) Damage Increase
• (11) Damage Increase
• (15) Damage Increase
• (15) Recharge Reduction
• (17) Recharge Reduction

Level 12: Lingering Radiation

• (A) Recharge Reduction
• (19) Recharge Reduction

Level 14: Super Speed

• (A) Endurance Reduction

Level 16: Hurdle

• (A) Jumping

Level 18: Health

• (A) Healing

Level 20: Stamina

• (A) Endurance Modification
• (21) Endurance Modification
• (21) Endurance Modification

Level 22: [Empty]
Level 24: [Empty]
Level 26: [Empty]
Level 28: [Empty]
Level 30: [Empty]
Level 32: [Empty]
Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl

• (A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint

• (A) Empty

Level 2: Rest

• (A) Empty

Level 1: Vigilance

Choking Cloud is great solo, though. (EDIT: when it's at least 5-slotted, that is. ) Mutation is definitely skippable, and EMP... Well, it might be worth it on Rad/Rad for "OMG, near-wipe" situations (PBU-Aim-EMP-ABlast or Fallout) but I never had a room on my build to test the theory.


Anyway,

No, you can do that. The price you pay for such a build is that you have room for just two or maybe three attacks until lvl 30 or so and have to take super speed as your travel power, but such a character is perfectly playable both solo and in group, that's how my Rad/Rad defender was built while he was levelling. He could solo all the early EBs (Frostfire-Castillo), although with inspirations and a few faceplants. (Multiple ones in the case of Arbiter Sands, IIRC). Add a stealth IO to sprint (expensive for lvl 20 but doable) and it's not even that slow, you can safely rush to the boss/glowie.

And in team you have AM and Rad Infection/Enervating Field/Lingering Radiation. So usually you apply those, take a couple potshots... And all the mobs are dead from teammates' blasts, no one notices your own low DPS. (And at higher levels you do have attacks.)

ADD: A few more points to consider:
Yin talismans. Any type, except maybe Accuracy, is extremely useful to lowbie rad defenders, get them as early as you can.

Mezzes, even relatively weak ones, like Tsoo kicks are very dangerous to rads since all their toggles drop if the mez hits and that may mean very fast faceplant. So, you need some sort of strategy to deal with them solo or in a small team. (and yes that's why I don't skip Choking Cloud.)

Endurance, - you need lots and lots of it, Stamina+AM by themselves might be insufficient at higher levels, so you might consider making room in your build for usual shinies. Not that they're required in teams (but they're ultra-nice to have anyway), but they certainly make a difference solo.